[actionjack]

So.. this is not meant to be a discussion about the merits of paying Gurley and Cooks. Water under the bridge and a completely other subject, imo.

What do the release and trade mean? Not the opportunity costs, etc.. what does this mean to this year's *roster?

Well.. 857 yards at a 3.8 average was lost with Gurley from last year's roster and he had little to no impact in the passing game.
Can Henderson and a rookie produce that much? I'm sorry, but I would have to say yes. Yep.. the design of the run game was crappy and they had line problems.. but do we think Gurley's getting back to superstar status? I don't.

So.. you're replacing him with guys on the roster plus a draft pick.

Cooks.. 42 catches and 583 yards. Does anyone not think they can make up with those targets between the current group of WRs and TEs? I think they can.

And they brought in a second rounder.

I'm just saying that the roster impact isn't nearly as bad as what the dead cap looks like.

I hope that makes sense.

This was a 9-7 team.. with those contributions.

I agree with the gist of your post, neither player was making a significant impact or certainly not an irreplaceable impact. It somewhat hard to scout both players last year.

Gurley was running behind a bad line and his playing time was uneven at best. IMO he still showed sparks of the old Gurley, but overall not the guy from 2017-2018. Can Brown and Henderson handle the load? My main question is staying on the field for a season. My other concern is pass pro and having an effective screen game.

As far as Cooks, he had some good numbers, but IMO never really lived up to the hype. I think our WR's and TE's more than make up for any loss. I love Reynolds getting more time as he has a large catch radius and has some grit/toughness about him.

So in short, I dont think losing these guys is to a big loss to the Rams from there talent, but it has impacted the team overall due to the cap, but thats another conversation.

IMO the keys to next season.

1. offensive line- if they dont play well, McVay offense will struggle period
2. pass rush- if we cant rush the passer the defense will have problems

[St. Loser Fan]

I missed the parts where we overreacted.

[moklerman]

I suggest they continue with their plan. For the next 5 years they will be paying their QB affordable prices. You suggest they should have waited until after their SB appearance and Goff's almost 4700 yards passing and his nearing the end of his contract to negotiate a new one? With his leverage and the value of a good QB even greater?

What gets me is when we have a very good player who comes to the end of his contract, the overwhelming opinion is "they should have extended him before this" but when they do that, "it's too early".

The cap goes up every year. The value of players goes up every year, as long as they maintain their level of performance. Their leverage goes up every year the closer they get to their contract ending. So the SMART thing is to get them early. Otherwise you're paying more than you would have in previous years. Everybody on this board (and others) has said that. Yet when they do sign them early, they fooked up? That's kinda wanting it both ways, isn't it?

You think paying Goff coming off of '18 was better leverage for the Rams than Goff coming off of '19? I strongly disagree with that idea. At some point, you do have to pay your QB if you plan to keep him but the Rams shouldn't have rushed to sign Goff. He hasn't really established who he even is at this point. With McVay's system, I think QB is a position you could swap out every 5-6 years. I'd much rather build up the rest of the team and plug in a QB of McVay's choosing every so often.

Not that I'd move on from Marino or Rodgers simply out of principle but I think the chances of long term, consistent success are higher with a bunch of mid to high salaries throughout the roster propping up a solid QB.

The Rams rolled the dice on Goff maintaining his '17-'18 production but he slipped way back from that level. $110M guaranteed for Trubisky levels of production is not a good investment.

[CanuckRightWinger]

The Rams 2020 Salary Cap Dead Money figure of $24.7 Million is the worst in the NFL for 2020. It has also been written up as "historically bad."

People who want to ignore that 12.11% of the Rams 2020 Salary Cap has been made unavailable to sign players with that $24.7 Million will point and say...
"People are overreacting"
"Don't be one of those!"
"Don't be a Sheeple. Everything is rosy. Why, if you look out at 2021, we only have to re-sign Ramsey! See, rosy!!"

Both spotrac.com and overthecap.com show our $10 Million FA OLB Leonard Floyd as unsigned. They also show us as millions over the salary cap at present.
Question: Is that a blatant typo on both websites?
Has anybody read an official Ram Release on the signing of Leonard Floyd?

Curious minds.

[St. Loser Fan]

The Rams 2020 Salary Cap Dead Money figure of $24.7 Million is the worst in the NFL for 2020. It has also been written up as "historically bad."

People who want to ignore that 12.11% of the Rams 2020 Salary Cap has been made unavailable to sign players with that $24.7 Million will point and say...
"People are overreacting"
"Don't be one of those!"
"Don't be a Sheeple. Everything is rosy. Why, if you look out at 2021, we only have to re-sign Ramsey! See, rosy!!"

Both spotrac.com and overthecap.com show our $10 Million FA OLB Leonard Floyd as unsigned. They also show us as millions over the salary cap at present.
Question: Is that a blatant typo on both websites?
Has anybody read an official Ram Release on the signing of Leonard Floyd?

Curious minds.

I would also like to know the proper reaction to these numbers is.

[PARAM]

That money couldn't have been spent on "other players."

Right, so the options were:

Gurley
a.) Keep Gurley on the roster, taking up a spot that some $675,000 RB could have and play Gurley and his 3.7 ypc.
b.) Cut him and move on

Cooks
a.) Keep Cooks on the roster and hope he doesn't get his bell rung. What are odds he would be clean all year?
b.) Cut him and move on

So we spent that money either way. This way, we will have 2 different players on the roster. Much less expensive, younger and healthier.

Perhaps the genesis of that angst over all that wasted money is based upon the chance the Rams go RB and WR before OL?

[St. Loser Fan]

"It's a lot of money. Let's see what they actually put on the field."

But is it okay to add “this could be an issue part way in the season if they need to fill a gap due to injury”? Or is that too much?

[BobCarl]

Well.. 857 yards at a 3.8 average was lost with Gurley from last year's roster and he had little to no impact in the passing game.

I don't agree. Eight in the box opens a lot more passing lanes than a nickle defense does.

Malcoln Brown AND the O-line is going to have to be so good that teams need to stack 8 in the box. Otherwise, there will be no passing game.

[ramsman34]

Right, so the options were:

Gurley
a.) Keep Gurley on the roster, taking up a spot that some $675,000 RB could have and play Gurley and his 3.7 ypc.
b.) Cut him and move on

Cooks
a.) Keep Cooks on the roster and hope he doesn't get his bell rung. What are odds he would be clean all year?
b.) Cut him and move on

So we spent that money either way. This way, we will have 2 different players on the roster. Much less expensive, younger and healthier.

Perhaps the genesis of that angst over all that wasted money is based upon the chance the Rams go RB and WR before OL?

I guess you can take that dead money and “assign” it to Be added to the first contract year numbers for these 2 new players. They become “cheap” next year. Lol. Or you could theoretically press that dead money to all RBs and WRs. Adding it to the aggregate numbers of those position groups. Could probably even do calculations as to group efficiency per dollar, so to speak, then compare it to last year. Just have to come up with the metrics.

All in all, just ways to justify or soften the dead money effect.

Doesn’t matter to me. We have who we have, our cap is what it is, and if there is a season, we will see how well the team performs and forecast that going forward. 2021 cap sitch isn’t quite as bad, and looks even better going forward. Let’s hope player skill and team performance are ascending.

[CanuckRightWinger]

"Chicken Little"?
So what, we're name-calling now?

Okay....I'll play your game, FlimFlam Man.

See, I am looking at the reality of our 2020 Salary Cap situation, and how it affects our 2020 roster...
....ya know, the numbers!! IE. We have over 80% of our 2020 Salary Cap devoted to our 12 Top Salaried Players + Dead Money. That leaves less than 20% of our 2020 Salary Cap to pay the other 50 bodies. Based on the New England model (which Kroenke has expressed appreciation for in the past).....that 80/20 distribution formula above is NOT how to construct a solid Salary Cap. Duh!

Whilst you, the FlimFlam Man keep telling guys,
"Forget 2020! It's just water under the bridge! Hey, look over here in 2021....we're absolutely acers if you just focus on 2021!!"
And this:

"The key thing is we're going to get younger and healthier."
ME: No fucking kidding Neils Bohr, because with over 80% of our 2020 Salary Cap spent on our Top 12 Guys plus Dead Money, guess what??
All's we can afford to sign are young cheap players for 2020!!!

See, you want to ignore the Salary Cap mess and distract folks with other things.
You have the right to do that of course.....just don't start name-calling when guys catch on to your game!

As I wrote, Kroenke's numbers guys screwed up. It happens. Examining the carnage is not "an over-reaction".....it's just an acknowledgement of what happened and why.....hopefully to prevent its future recurrence.
Right now the Rams braintrust has decided to take all their bad medicine at once by rolling Cooks Dead Money atop the Gurley payout, all in this one 2020 season. Gutsy move! Seems Demoff & Company, unlike Dr. Fauci, have chosen to steepen the curve in the management of their problem, eh!! We'll see out it all plays out.

Here's a thought for you...
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.

Here's another thought:
You have a bias. It's a transparent bias.
....and guys see through it.
So just be cognizant of that...
....and stop with the empty flaccid retorts & name calling, or you'll just attract return fire.